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I am happily married to my handsome prince, and love being a mama to the best kiddos! This is the place where we post great deals, kid projects, educational materials, toys, hand-made things, product reviews, parenting resources and ideas that we've found. Thanks for stopping by! <3 Ree

From the fullness of his grace, we have all recieved one blessing after another.John 1:16 NIV

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Monday, February 28, 2011

I was looking for some fun worksheets to do with kids today and found this printable worksheet website on education.com. Just type in the grade level and subject you are looking for and then choose a worksheet to print!

Monday, February 21, 2011

Today we are home with lots of germs and sick kiddos. :o( Although we would love to be out in the sunshine on a warm beach somewhere baking the germs away, it's cold here today...so we are thinking up lots of fun activities to do inside, instead of watching TV.

Here are a few of our ideas...

Toy Car Wash: Get a big basin of warm soapy water and clean sponges.. Add plastic toy cars or any plastic toys that could use washing and let kids wash and play.

Read stories together.

Makepaint hand prints on paper and date and label them. (We never have enough of these and those little hands grow so quickly!)

Make a blanket tent in the living room..

String beads, macaroni or cheerios to make pretty necklaces and bracelets.

Play a game together.

Write a silly story and illustrate it together.

Make a smoothie with fruit and yogurt

Paint fingernails and toenails

Fill a plastic container with snow to bring inside, put mittens on and play!

What do you like to do on sick days? Please leave a comment, we'd love more ideas!

Movies On Demand would like to get the word out about Awards Season and their “How Many Have You Seen?” poll on their Facebook page with a survey and a chance to win a 3-D TV! One winner will receive a 46 inch SONY Bravia 3-D HDTV and 4 weekly winners will get Movies On Demand for one year. Click here to go Movies On Demand's Facebook page to enter.

**Movies On Demand GIVEAWAY**
Also, Movies On Demand has offered studio movie posters to one Be Blessed reader... The winner may choose two posters of their choice of the following movies:

Friday, February 4, 2011

Note: this review is only for the Wii version of the game. The versions for other systems are somewhat different and are directed at different audiences. The Wii version is rated “E 10+”, while the Xbox and PlayStation versions (not referred to as “Battle Grids”) are rated “T”.

In a world where one often asks “which came first – the movie or the video game?”, Tron simply answers, “Both”. Unlike the pod racing in Star Wars, the games in Tron are not ancillary to the movie; they are integral to it. The “Battle Grids” game is derived from the games in the movie and enjoins the player to enter into them.

The strength of this game is in its multiplayer mode. There are several games to choose from: Light Cycle Racing, Light Disc Battles, Light Runner Combat, and Hyperball. In each game, the players each choose a character, choose what they will use, and go through a basic primer on controls. Up to four players or AI bots are possible. This is where the first criticism came to light: there are only four characters to choose from and only two types of light cycles/ball launchers/discs/etc. available. Though this lack of customization is disappointing, it is not a show-stopper and it also gets players to choose quickly and get on to actually playing the game. There are ways of increasing the variety of choices, but they require significant investments in time and play (not straight out of the box).

The Light Cycle Race takes some new twists on the original from the movie(s), but is entertaining and challenging. Although it is difficult to truly go head-to-head with your opponent (like the original arcade game of the 80's) and one seems to simply run (and jump) around as if on crazy sci-fi dirt bikes, it is a lot of fun. It also uses the Wii Motion Plus capabilities fairly well.

Another game that uses the Wii Motion Plus capabilities is Hyperball. The purpose of the game is a bit murky, but it is best with four players where teamwork can be advantageous. It is not as action-oriented, but keeps a frantic pace of catching and throwing until someone misses.

One major disappointment was the disc throwing game, Light Disc Battles. It is nothing more than running, jumping, and shooting by pressing buttons, rather than throwing a disc using the Wii Motion sensor. The only major action that uses the Wii Motion is blocking. Yawn. I already have a Nintendo 64. Light Disc Battles is also the least kid-friendly as it features humanoid characters getting blasted, not cycles or tanks.

The remainder of the games are generally entertaining (though they don't use much of the Wii's motion capabilities) and may appeal to one reader or the other, but this reviewer found favorites and not-so-favorites...which is the point of a multi-game pack. This is double true for multiplayer games that get brought out when the guests come over. Easy-to-learn, not-a-lot-of-decisions, easy-to-have-fun, let's-play-a-different-one-now kind of get-togethers.

Overall, the graphics are solid. They are neither ground-breaking nor distracting, but simply do a fine job of creating the environment and projecting the gameplay.

Finally, the single-player Story mode is flat and uninteresting. It may be worth it for the die-hard Tron enthusiast who wears neon-emblazoned skinsuits, but your standard gamer will get a lot more out of a Wii Fit yoga workout.

In summary, the Tron: Evolution – Battle Grids video game for Wii is a solid, fun party game with something for everyone. The games are complex enough that their mastery is not easy and can be played for a while, but easy enough to have fun (and survive for awhile) out of the box. The focus is on multi-player fun, not gamer subtlety or sophistication.

Disclosure: We received Tron Evolution: Battle Grids for Wii by Disney Interactive Studios to review. The opinions I have expressed are my honest opinions and have not been influenced by the companies providing the free product. No other compensation was received.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Has anyone tried this out yet? HotPrints is offering 4 free photo books per month! Read more about it here... Looks like fun, I am looking forward to trying it out! These would make a great Valentines Day gift.